The Grassroots Outdoor Alliance said 94% of its members attended its first-ever Fall Buying Show Nov. 9-13th at Stone Mountain, Georgia, outside of Atlanta.
“This new fall show was designed to showcase our top 12 outerwear & sportswear vendors,” explains Roanne Miller, President of Grassroots,
which has provided a summer buying show for 10 years near Salt Lake City. “Our membership was seeking a solution to all the independent mini-shows and rep appointments that were taking place during such a mission-critical time in the in the Fall Season.”
At the Marriott Evergreen Conference Center in Stone Mountain, GOA members were able to see 12, full-line presentations for Fall 2011, all in two and a half days. Appointments were up to four hours per vendor.
Vendors who attended this year’s show include: Marmot, Horny Toad, Nau, Salomon, Prana, Patagonia, Mountain Hardwear, SmartWool, ExOfficio, Arc’teryx, Outdoor Research and Columbia Sportswear.
“Our retail membership embraced the new show,” said Dawson Wheeler, Board Member and Chairman of the Vendor Committee. “We had a 94% attendance rate with our membership. For a first year show in a new location, the Board could not be more pleased.”
Horny Toad President Gordon Seabury stated that the show “was a tremendous opportunity to spend quality time with our leading specialty retail partners, gain a better understanding of their needs on the front lines, and make sure our priorities are aligned to support those needs.”
Matt Sims, long-time sales rep with Patagonia, praised the venue.
“Hiking and biking trails as well as the huge lake on property gave all the outdoor enthusiasts recreational opportunities to relieve the stress of 3 days of meetings,” Sims said. “I was really pleasantly surprised with the attendance at the show, and I hope we can keep it going for future seasons.
The show gives Grassroots members an opportunity to meet apparel vendor's earliest deadlines and provide feedback to the vendor from an independent retailer’s perspective.
“Since we can meet with both our reps and the vendor’s sales manager in a private setting, the show is immeasurably more effective than other regional or even national shows,” said Wheeler.
“This show was a test by both our retail members and our vendor partners to determine best business practices and gage the effectiveness of a Fall Show. I am certain from the feedback at this point that all parties found it a very productive use of time,” Wheeler states. “Our membership sees value in buying a line with other Grassroots accounts; we have learned to trust each other and be highly proactive with our questions to both the vendors as well as our peers. Again, this speaks to the value of our group and the power of open feedback during the buying process. We simply trust each other!”
New vendor partners Arc’Teryx and Columbia exhibited at the show.
“Both in different ways are addressing Specialty retailing head-on and with a highly open and collaborative model, as are all our other vendor partners. This model has our membership very excited,” said Miller.
